It was the second loss of the day for the Raptors. The young
franchise also lost their only general manager in club history,
Isiah Thomas, who resigned to pursue a job with NBC Sports.

"This is a sad day, but fortunately in this world you get to
keep going," said Toronto's Damon Stoudamire. "I'm going to
miss him a lot, but I have a friend for life."

Hakeem Olajuwon chipped in 17 points 11 rebounds and Matt
Bullard added 12 off the bench for the Rockets, who put the game
away by outscoring Toronto 34-18 in the second quarter en route
to a 66-46 halftime lead.

Mario Elie and Willis keyed a first-quarter run with five points
apiece that put Houston ahead for good. The Raptors led 15-10
midway through the first quarter, but the Rockets went on a 16-2
tear that Bullard capped with a basket with 2:55 left for a
26-17 edge.

Starting for the injured Charles Barkley, Willis hit 7-of-12
shots in 30 minutes. The Rockets improved to 13-3 when Willis
is in the starting lineup.

"It feels very good," said Willis. "I know what I can do as a
starter because I did it for so many years. We have a lot of
weapons, both offensively and defensively, and it's nice to be a
part of that."

Houston shot 55 percent (51-of-93), improving to .500 (5-5) and
posting consecutive victories for just the second time this
season.

Stoudamire had 25 points and 11 rebounds and Marcus Camby added
18 points for Toronto, which fell to 0-5 on the road.

"The Rockets came out and attacked our press," said Stoudamire.
"We were undersized against their front line. It was hard to
defense those guys in the post. They did what they needed to do
to win."

Houston had eight players in double figures, including four
players off the bench, which outscored the Raptors' reserves,
59-22. Matt Maloney had six points and was the only starter not
to score in double figures.

Bullard led the reserves with 23 minutes. Brent Price had 11
points and seven assists and Rodrick Rhodes and Othella
Harrington each scored 10.

"I'd love to play that many minutes every night," Bullard said.
"We wanted to come off the bench and increase the lead and we
did just that."

"They came out and were ready to play," said Raptors coach
Darrell Walker. "If we would have made some shots we would have
been there, but shooting 38 percent (39-of-102) didn't help us
at all."